Joe Bowden
Forum Replies Created
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Encore 2.0 will probably not install under Vista.
Encore 2.0 projects should open without problems in Encore CS4 – in fact, I’ve done it. But the project structure must be as I described in my other posts.
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Ted, you need the project file and its project folder.
For instance, if your project was named “My DVD” you’d need these two items to be in the same folder before you could open it in Encore:
My DVD.ncor
My DVD (this is the project folder)Have you got the project file and project folder in the same folder?
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The project file alone is not enough -the project folder must be in the same folder as the file before you can open it in Encore.
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Do you have any overrides in your project?
Also, have you burned a BD-RE and tested it in a Blu-ray player?
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We’re talking about in Encore.
Match your comp duration and motion menu duration in Encore.
If your menu file has visible layers (check in the Layers panel), then you’ll have to render the motion menu to get it to play back.
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What’s the duration of the comp?
Your motion menu duration should be the same (you can change it in the Duration field of Menu properties).
Have you got any visible layers in the menu itself? If so, you’ll have to render the motion menu before it plays (File > Render > Motion Menus).
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The first thing to consider is using a text highlight at all. They nearly always don’t look very good. But as you can see, a straight line renders out OK as a highlight.
If you really must have a text highlight, consider using a simpler font. Simple sans-serif fonts will look better with a button highlight than more complex fonts.
If you really must use that particular font, then consider creating two subpicture layers: a stroked subpicture layer and another subpicture layer for the inner part of the stroke. Set the color of the stroke to a color close to your menu background color, with less opacity than the inner part of the stroke.
If that still doesn’t give you what you want, consider using a layered menu (which must be built by hand in Encore with buttons set to auto-activate that link to duplicate menus that have the “highlight” you want with no subpicture layer restrictions on colors/opacities). But the caveat is this is a lot of manual work linking all the menus, and that these menus will not behave as expected in a software DVD: you must click the button to advance to the next menu showing your button state.
Myself, I tend to go for the simplest option, which is what you’ll find on most Hollywood DVDs.
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Matthew, looking at your screenshot, it looks like you’ve turned off pixel aspect ratio correction in the Menu Editor, which is distorting the image (stretching it out horizontally).
In Preview mode, square pixels are displayed, as they would be on a video monitor.
If you turn pixel aspect ratio correction back on in your Menu Editor panel, it should look more like it does in Preview mode.
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You don’t have to have any button highlights, but if you don’t have them you may want to provide the user with some information so they know they need to do something to make something else happen.
Button highlights are nearly universal in commercially-made DVDs, and that most viewers understand them; therefore, I’d recommend that you consider sticking with the convention, but the choice is yours.
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Definitely burn a DVD (RW), and test it in a player.
Encore’s Preview mode is a good first-check, but any serious author always tests by burning a DVD and testing it in a DVD player, or building a folder and testing it in a software DVD player.